This invention relates generally to inhibitors of trypsin-like serine protease enzymes, especially factor Xa or thrombin, pharmaceutical compositions containing the same, and methods of using the same as anticoagulant agents for treatment and prevention of thromboembolic disorders.
Activated factor Xa, whose major practical role is the generation of thrombin by the limited proteolysis of prothrombin, holds a central position that links the intrinsic and extrinsic activation mechanisms in the final common pathway of blood coagulation. The generation of thrombin, the final serine protease in the pathway to generate a fibrin clot, from its precursor is amplified by formation of prothrombinase complex (factor Xa, factor V, Ca2+ and phospholipid). Since it is calculated that one molecule of factor Xa can generate 138 molecules of thrombin (Elodi, S., Varadi, K.: Optimization of conditions for the catalytic effect of the factor IXa-factor VIII Complex: Probable role of the complex in the amplification of blood coagulation. Thromb. Res. 1979, 15, 617-629), inhibition of factor Xa may be more efficient than inactivation of thrombin in interrupting the blood coagulation system.
Therefore, efficacious and specific inhibitors of factor Xa, thrombin, or both are needed as potentially valuable therapeutic agents for the treatment of thromboembolic disorders. It is thus desirable to discover new factor Xa, thrombin, or both inhibitors.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide novel nitrogen containing aromatic heterocycles, with ortho-substituted P1 groups, which are useful as factor Xa inhibitors or pharmaceutically acceptable salts or prodrugs thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide pharmaceutical compositions comprising a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and a therapeutically effective amount of at least one of the compounds of the present invention or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or prodrug form thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for treating thromboembolic disorders comprising administering to a host in need of such treatment a therapeutically effective amount of at least one of the compounds of the present invention or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or prodrug form thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide novel compounds for use in therapy.
It is another object of the present invention to provide the use of novel compounds for the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment of thrombosis or a disease mediated by factor Xa.